James Asked
by feed-the-birdss
Summary: James really just wants one chance to date Lily. So, upon Dumbledore's advice, he decides to enlist some help. This is my submission for the Trope Wizard Tournament.


**Author's Note: This is my submission for the Trop Wizard Tournament on Tumblr. My ship is obviously Jily, and the trope I chose was friends to lovers. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: These characters and settings aren't mine. **

The humming sounds of the strange instruments that filled the circular room played alongside James Potter's tapping foot. The magnificent red and gold Phoenix next to the desk, whose name James could not remember, looked on at the messy haired boy pensively.

Before he started tapping his foot, James tried to engage in a staring contest with the bird because it wouldn't stop staring at him, but quickly realized the bird was going to win and resigned to his foot-tapping to distract him as he waited.

A few years ago, maybe even a year ago, James probably would've snooped around the office to get a good look at some of the nick knacks his wacky headmaster had lying around. However, he had been behaving a lot better over the past year. His mother had said it's because he's finally begun to mature. He guess that makes sense, but he doesn't really feel any different. He still makes decisions impulsively, like any other real Gryffindor. The difference is, his impulses are just directed towards other things these days. Like death eaters, and You Know Who.

Although, he could think of one impulse that hasn't changed even a bit, and it's the only one he's had to learn how to not act on. Red hair, green eyes, a freckled nose. James' foot's tapping slowly started to die off. _Lily…_he thought. _Bloody Hell_, he groaned. He really just didn't want to think about her right now. So he resumed his foot-tapping at top speed and started using his school shirt to clean his very dirty wand.

"Excuse me? But would you kindly stop incessantly tapping that foot of yours young man? Some of us are trying to sleep here."

As his foot stopped mid-tap, James looked up from the smudges on his wand to see the portrait of Armando Dippet, giving him the dirtiest look he'd ever seen on a portrait including the time he and Sirius woke up the fat lady as she was sleeping off what was an obvious hangover.

"Oh, uh—right, sorry mate," apologized James. He wanted to ask if he knew when Dumbledore was going to show up for their meeting, but thought better of it given the dirty look from before.

Without the tapping of his foot to distract him from his thoughts though, James was left with, well, his thoughts and the Phoenix, who didn't really seem to do anything other than stare at him.

His head looked towards the door of the office, "Where is he?" James asked out loud.

"Right here, Mr. Potter."

James stood up as the door opened and in walked the old man, half-moon spectacles, mauve robes and all. James was not exactly sure why he stood up, but a man like that somehow just automatically gets respect from everyone present when he walks into a room.

"Sorry Professor."

"Not a problem. I know I kept you waiting for some time. My most sincerest apologies, but Professor Slughorn and I got caught up in a discussion regarding our Head Girl's potion skills," explained Dumbledore as he walked to his desk to sit down.

James really did not want to talk or think about Lily tonight beyond Heads duties, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he couldn't help it, a conversation is always more interesting to him whenever she's mentioned. James sat down across from him and asked, "I don't mean to pry Professor, but may I ask why you and Professor Slughorn were talking about her potion skills?"

"You may." He said as he softly stroked the Phoenix, whose name James still couldn't remember, "Professor Slughorn is aware that I am very interested in the talents and skills of all the seventh years. Therefore, he let me know of Ms. Evans' exceptional potion-making abilities, and her quick wit. Which I do say, I have had the pleasure of witnessing myself, and it is quite something," he finished with a chuckle.

James couldn't help but smile back, "Yes. She's quite the girl," he agreed. However, saying that only reminded James of the fact this girl, he's pretty sure he's in love with, is not with him. The smile slowly left his face.

"To echo your words from before James, I must say that I don't mean to pry, but may I ask what is wrong? I've noticed you've seem off this past week. In fact, I think I overheard your good friend Mr. Black the other day mention that you've lost your 'strut' as he put it."

James was about to say that the upcoming quidditch game against Ravenclaw has been making him nervous, but he felt like Dumbledore's blue eyes were piercing him through those spectacles. He just knew that if he made something up, Dumbledore would know, and he didn't want a man he greatly respected to think him a liar. Plus, Sirius, Remus and Peter have re-instated the 'No Complaining About Evans Past 5PM Rule' again, and he was going a little stir-crazy today. So it poured out of him in one big huff, "I've fancied Lily since fourth year, and we're in October of our last year, and I'm terrified that I'll never get a bloody chance with her," James paused, "sir," he finished clearing his throat.

Dumbledore's eyes continued to exam him, and what made matters worse was that his Phoenix was still staring at him too. So there they were, James, Dumbledore, and this Phoenix, in this circular office, in loud silence, staring at each other. Sweat began to form on James' brow.

To James' utter relief, Dumbledore finally opened his mouth, "Hmmm, I see."

"Uhhh, yes," spluttered James, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Forgive me James, but I was under the impression that you and Miss Evans were already together. So this is a bit of a shock for me."

James blinked. If expressionless calm-seated staring was how this man showed his shock, it is no wonder how he defeated Grindelwald. "What gave you that impression, sir?"

"Don't get me wrong. I am very aware as to how Miss Evans felt about you a year or two ago. My, I think the whole school was aware," he chuckled as James scowled. "Yet, there was barely a moment I can remember from last year or this past month, where you two weren't together laughing and smiling at each other. Naturally, I thought the friendship had turned into something more by now."

"I wish," sighed James. "We have become good friends, but I just—" he paused, "well sir, I just am a little nervous to ask her out after all the times she rejected me, and I feel like—you know, if she liked me back, Lily is the type of woman who would ask me out, but she hasn't yet…so yeah…"

Dumbledore, and to James' annoyance, the Phoenix continued to stare silently at him as James grimaced at the floor.

Once again, after a few moments and James' utter relief, Dumbledore finally broke the silence, "Mr. Potter, I am going to offer you some advice, and mind you, it's advice that I do not give lightly."

James' interest peaked. He was not venting for the purposes of getting advice here. He really just needed to vent to someone who wasn't Sirius, Remus, Peter (or his mother). However, when the greatest wizard in the world is offering you dating advice, you shut the hell up and listen. Although, he's pretty sure Sirius would laugh his ass off at the idea of Albus Dumbledore, sitting in a mauve robe, giving James advice on his love life as Dumbledore's pet Phoenix stared into his soul as he listened.

"I'll take anything I can get at this point sir." James encouraged.

Dumbledore's head titled forward slightly so his blue eyes were no piercing James directly, and he slowly brought the tips of his fingers together in front of his chest as he said, "Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who asked for it."

James blinked. _That's it_. He thought to himself. _I would be married to her by now if that was bloody true_.

"Oh…okay," replied James blankly.

"Right, now James, I am very sorry to cut the love chat short, but we must be getting on with our meeting," asserted Dumbledore.

"Of course sir."

About a half hour later, James was walking back to the common room from Dumbledore's Office. As he and Dumbledore went over the protocols for prefects during the next Hogsmeade trip, he couldn't get Dumbledore's advice out his head. _Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it. _Absolutely useless that was. What does that even mean? James couldn't count the number of times he's asked—begged—for something, anything or anyone to help him get a chance with this girl. Like, does he need to explicitly ask the school out loud? Is that what it is? Madness.

Madness…that kind of makes sense coming from Dumbledore. However, Dumbledore's madness is part of what makes him the greatest.

That's when James stopped mid-step and thought to himself, _well, what the bloody hell have I got lose at this point anyway?_

So he looked behind him to make sure the coast was clear, and then quickly hauled himself into the broom closet and slammed the door. The force of the slam caused a broom to clatter to the ground and dust to sprinkle down from the ceiling.

After quickly brushing himself off, he deeply breathed in the dust-filled air and tentatively said, "Hogwarts?"

He then paused as if expecting, and half hoping, the school to magically speak back to him. But after a second or two of silence he continued, "Right, so um, Dumbledore said you may be able to help me out with, uh, well my Lily issue, or my lil' problem, as Padfoot likes to call it. But I guess what Sirius says doesn't matter much to you right now.

'Anyway, yeah so, there's this girl, and well, I think I love her. But we're not together you see. We're friends—good friends—hell, I consider her one of my best friends these days, but I want to be more. Sometimes…Fuck, okay, I've never said this out loud, but, um, well I sometimes think she might, uh, like me back and stuff. Like, she's always making excuses to touch me, and she flirts back with me all the bloody time. And at the beginning of the year, when we were on the express on our way over here, the train rattled, and Lily sorta fell onto me, and I caught her. At that moment, I swear she was dying to kiss me as much as I was dying to kiss her…" James' eyes glazed over at the memory.

The dust in the air soon made James sneeze, which woke him up from his stupor, "Uh…right. So this girl. Lily. So I guess I should formally ask you for help? Okay—here we go, um…Hogwarts, I, James Fleamont Potter, am desperately asking, or begging if you accept begs, to give me the chance to date Lily Marie Evans…please and thank you…I guess?"

He waited a minute or two to see if anything happened. He's not sure what he was expecting, but he was kind of hoping for Lily to magically show up in the closet with him to ask him out…or snog him. He would be okay with either scenario really. Alas, nothing happened.

So he slowly opened the door of the closet, turned his head both ways to check that the coast was still clear and continued on down the corridor as if he was not just talking to himself in a broom closet.

He was just approaching the library, when he saw the unmistakable shade of red.

"James!" smiled Lily.

_Holy shit. _Thought James, as she smiled at him. He noticed her hands were covered in their customary ink stains he almost never sees her without, and her bag was slung over her shoulder.

"Hey Lils," smiled James. Trying his hardest to shield his nervous excitement. Was this it!? Was she going to ask him out? Was he all of sudden going to magically get the courage to ask her out? Were they going to snog?

"How was your meeting with Dumbledore?" she asked brightly.

This whole situation felt too mundane to James, and he wasn't getting hit with some splurge of courage or anything, so he felt like this wasn't the help he was promised. He's pretty sure Hogwarts would know how to be more obvious.

"Good. We went over the Hogsmeade protocol. Sorry I couldn't meet with him when you did, but you know…quidditch and all," he explained as his hand instinctively went to ruffled his hair.

"Don't worry about it." She said as they both started to head towards the common room, "Anyway, I've been dying to ask you all day, but what on earth has been growing on Sirius' upper lip. It's absolutely ghastly."

"I know! Moony tried to talk him out of it when he said he was going for it, but Padfoot refused. He's claiming the stache will match the motorbike he fixed up over the summer."

"Oh God. That somehow makes the whole thing worse. The scoundrel nearly gave my dad a freaking heart attack when he saw him come to pick me up on that thing," she giggled at the memory, "I had to tell him that as a witch, I was more than capable of saving myself if we crashed."

James laughed along with her, "that's probably true."

"Damn straight Potter." As they started to climb a staircase, she asked, "So other than rounds tomorrow night, what else do you have to finish before the quidditch game on Saturday?"

"Surprisingly not much, only that essay for McGonagall, and practicing nonverbals for DADA."

"That's good. The team looking alright?"

Luckily for Lily, just as James was about to go on a bit of a quidditch rant about strategies for the next game, the staircase they were climbing began to move. This was nothing out of the ordinary for any Hogwarts student, but both of them couldn't help but groan in response. They would now have to take a much longer route to get back to the common room.

As the staircase continued to shift, Lily furrowed her brows, "Is it just me, or is the staircase slowing down?"

"What?" asked James in confusion.

That's when the staircase stopped altogether. James and Lily widened their eyes. In front of them and behind them, the stairs were met with air. Neither side was connected to another staircase.

"Uh…James. Has this ever happened to you before?"

"Can't say it has Evans."

"Uh…right…what the fuck do we do?" she perplexed.

"Um…fuck, do you think we could jump down to that one down there?" He pointed to a staircase that looked about 15-20 metres below them. "How the fuck did we end up here? It felt like we were still anchored to that bottom staircase?"

"I'm so confused. We're literally, like, suspended in mid-air, and the closest staircases are about 20 metres above and below us….," she paused, "Do you think we could levitate each other down to the ground? Or we could jump and set a cushioning charm? Or we could send a patronus to someone and get help?"

"Ummm, not that I don't trust us to levitate or cushion each other, but like, probably safer to do a patronus and get someone to sort us out."

"Agreed. You know how to do one right? I saw you do it over the summer."

"Yeah, my dad taught Sirius and I. Do you?"

"I've been practicing for a few weeks with Marlene, and we've managed to only the get the silvery mist…so no I guess," she huffed.

"That's better than either Sirius and I were either to manage after almost two months of trying. Pretty impressive Evans," he flirted with a smirk.

Lily smirked back, "I just set you up for the perfect opportunity to show off in front of me Potter. You better take it."

James chuckled, and just thought him and Lily flirting at that very moment, "Expecto Patronum!" He yelled. Surprisingly nothing came out. "Uhhh…well this hasn't happened in a while. Let me try again."

This time, he thought of that moment on the train ride when he thought they were going to kiss, that memory worked when he cast the Patronus just this morning, "Expecto Patronum!" He yelled again with more power. Again, nothing happened.

It was clear Lily was trying to hold back a laugh, "Oh sod off Evans, you know I can cast it. You said so yourself."

"It's okay James. It happens to every guy. It's totally normal. Some men get performance anxiety when they're with a pretty girl," she finished with a fit of giggles.

"Not funny Evans," James said even though it was clear he was trying to hold a laugh back too.

Once they both sobered up a bit, Lily suggested, "Um, why don't I try levitating you, just on this staircase to practice a bit."

"Okay…" cautioned James slowly, "but, I swear, if you drop me, and damage any part of me necessary for quidditch, I am not going to stop all the angry Gryffindors from coming after you for hurting their chance at the Cup."

Lily rolled her eyes in response, "I'm not scared of some quidditch obsessed Gryffindors, and I am pretty sure the only Gryffindor who would ever dare hold a wand against me is Sirius, and we all know how that worked out for him last time," she challenged.

"Touché Evans, but the point still stands. Please don't hurt me," he jokingly begged.

"Stand still then James." Lily dropped her bag on the stair below her, took a deep breath and firmly said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" James stayed firmly on the ground. "What the actual fuck!? I got that charm the first time I tried in first year!"

"Don't worry Evans. It happens to everyone. Especially if you're with an extremely handsome lad like myself."

"Shut it! This is serious. I don't think any magic will work here for some reason."

"What!?" James eyes widened as he started furiously waving his wand and shouting, "Lumos! Lumos Maxima! Aguamenti!"

They both looked at each other with wide eyes in complete panic.

"Well fuck," gulped Lily. "What are we going to do?!"

James blinked, and then took a breath. "Um..shit, okay, we need to calm down and just wait, I guess. I don't think there's anything we can do if our wands aren't working," he reasoned.

"Right, okay…that's good…you're calm, I should be calm too," she took a deep breath, "I am calm. Totally zen. So let's just wait. Someone is bound to walk by eventually. Might actually be interesting to camp out here for the night."

"Uhhh…I don't think we'll have to worry about that. I know for a fact that McGonagall does rounds of the entire Gryffindor Tower after the midnight, and it's still only 11."

"Gee, I wonder why she does that?" questioned Lily with a knowing smirk as she sat down on the stair she was standing on.

James followed her lead and sat down as well, "Well, she only caught us that one time in second year, but you have to give her props for continuing to try."

"You boys should give her a special goodbye prank just for her on her last round of the year before we leave."

"We should! Why didn't we think of that!?"

"Because we all know I come up with Marauders' best ideas," claimed Lily confidently.

"HA! Yeah right Evans, you only once suggested a prank for Slughorn, and while yes, it relieved us of Potions for a week, it was not, by any means our best prank," argued James.

"Well, that's unfair. The quality of a prank is completely subjective then because while I _know_ that one's the best, you seem to see another bogus truth."

James chuckled, "Whatever Evans, agree to disagree?"

"Fine," replied Lily with a smirk and a sarcastic huff.

With Lily's back against one bannister and James' back against the other banister lounging on the step below her, they then went on to discuss some of the Marauders' other great pranks and whether or not Lily's influence played any part in their brilliance.

After a good hour having debated the brilliance of the Maurader pranks, coming up with ways to sabotage Sirius' moustache, and Lily explaining to James why she thought muggle candy was better than wizarding candy, Lily remembered her unanswered question from earlier.

"So you never did tell me, how is the quidditch team looking for Saturday's game?"

"Oh right! Glad you asked actually! We're doing pretty well. That being said, we really need to clean up our defense. Our offense is next to perfect thanks to me and the other chasers, but Ravenclaw's defense is always better than ours. I mean, they like to double-team the best chaser on each team, and for Gryffindor, that's me. Sirius and Cootes wanted to do the same with Ravenclaw, but all their chasers are so bloody similar in style, it's hard to pin-point which is actually the best, you know? So I am trying to train them to fly in between their three chasers at all times so that they can't pass to each other. This way—"

"James, can you shut up now?" pleaded Lily.

"Hey! You asked!"

"Yes, I did ask, and now I deeply regret it."

James chuckled and rolled his eyes, "You always do this. You ask me about quidditch, and then tell me to shut up part way through my answers. So I think as punishment, you should be forced to listen to the rest of my quidditch talk tonight."

"Well, I only ask you because it's cute to watch you get so excited," stated Lily nonchalantly. James's reaction to that response, however, was anything but nonchalant. His ears were ringing, and his heart was soaring. Yet, to his total shock, he still managed to put up his famous flirtatious smirk.

"You think I'm cute when I talk quidditch Evans?"

"Sod off James. We both know I think you're attractive, and we both sure as hell know you think I'm attractive."

James wasn't really expecting that answer. His ears and heart were still ringing and soaring. I mean, attraction doesn't necessarily mean that she fancies him…could it? That's when James remembered, could this weird stuck on staircase thing be Hogwarts' way of helping him? He'd totally forgotten that he asked for Hogwarts help at this point, but it's starting to make sense now. This is his chance! It must me! There's no other explanation.

But, sweet Merlin, why couldn't Hogwarts have been a bit more obvious in it's approach!? Or at least given James time to come up with a game plan and consult with the Marauders!? Now he was starting to get nervous.

"Earth to James?" motioned Lily with her wand and hand.

"Sorry what?" piped up James.

"I just asked you what your plans are for Hogsmeade."

This was it. He was going to ask Lily Evans out, and she was going to say yes. Hogwarts was on his side this time. Nothing was stopping him now.

He took a deep breath, ruffled his hair, and said, "actually…Lily? I was wondering if you wanted to—"

"What on earth are you two doing up there!?"

James and Lily both looked down to see a furious looking Professor McGonagall from the bottom of the staircase in the corridor.

"It's not what it looks like Professor! We didn't do anything! The stairs just stopped moving, and we got stuck here!" yelled Lily down to her.

James was still reeling from him lost moment with Lily, and just stared wide-eyed at both of them as they yelled to each other.

"It most certainly does not look that way Miss Evans. What did you two do to the staircases? This must have taken some extreme magic! Will I find Mr. Black perched behind some pillar?" She asked as she quickly grabbed her wand from her robe and said, "Homenum Revelio!" She paused and turned her head wildly to see if the spell revealed anything. Lily and James just continued to stare at her, after a moment or two with no appearance from Sirius, McGonagall said, "It's just you too, but still, you two need to get down here this instant."

"We can't! We're honestly stuck. We didn't do anything to the staircase," stressed Lily.

"Our wands aren't even working up here," added James.

"I highly doubt that." McGonagall assured. She then made some fancy movements with her wand and proceeded to float up to their staircase.

James and Lily looked on with wide eyes and open mouths as their straight-line professor gracefully floated herself up the staircase like some sort of angel—all grace and ease.

"Merlin's Beard you two, why didn't you just jump onto the other staircase? It's only a metre or two. Honestly."

James and Lily's mouths were still open as their heads turned confusedly to look at the small gaps between each staircase.

"We swear professor, that gap was like—like 20 metres before, and our wands, Merlin, our wands weren't working…at all…I—I don't know what's happening," spluttered Lily.

"It's just Hogwarts doing its thing I guess," reasoned James with a small shoulder shrug. He had just begun to accept that Hogwarts worked in mysterious ways at this point.

Both Lily and McGonagall started staring daggers at James in that moment.

"James Fleamont Potter, if this was some sort prank, so help me—"

"It wasn't me! I had nothing to do with it!" _directly_, James added as an afterthought.

McGonagall looked at him with a thin-mouth, scrutinizing him to the best of her ability, which usually worked on James. However, James remained steadfast in his innocent stare. McGonagall sighed, and her mouth loosed slightly to say, "well, whatever happened here, it looks like everything's in place anyway, other than staircase being slightly off, but Albus will know how to fix it. No one was hurt, and it's not past the head students' curfew yet. Therefore, I suppose you two should just head straight to your dorms for now. However, don't let this happen again Mr. Potter."

James was about to argue once again that this was not his doing, but decided against it and just nodded quietly. "Yes Ma'am."

"Good, now off you two."

Lily grabbed her bag, then grabbed James and proceeded to, carefully, jump up to the next staircase as McGonagall magicked herself back down to the main corridor to go get Dumbledore.

"Do you promise that you didn't pull anything back there?"

"I swear to you Lils," he implored

Lily looked back at him earnestly, "Okay, I believe you. But Merlin, that was actually ridiculous."

"Yeah, but still not the strangest thing that's happened in these halls I bet."

"Too true, Potter. Too true," replied Lily as they walked back toward the common room. James couldn't help but notice that Lily seemed somewhere else in that moment though, as if she was trying to work out some puzzle in her head. There was the slightest turn of her mouth, and her green eyes didn't seem as bright as usual. James was a bit out of it too though honestly. He still felt like Hogwarts was trying to tell him something here, but he just needed another sign—another moment.

"Um…James?" Lily asked quietly all of a sudden.

"Yeah Lils?" For what must have been at least the third time that night, James felt like this was Hogwarts' doing.

"What were you going to say back there? Before on the staircase…about—about Hogsmeade, I mean. Before McGonagall interrupted and all," Lily's cheeks were turning red.

James' heart started hammering. This had to be it. Now was his chance. Hopefully, Hogwarts, or anyone else for that matter, wouldn't interrupt him this time.

"Yeah…right, so Evans—Lily…you've become one of my best friends this past year, and well," James' hand went to ruffle his hair, "I don't want to mess it up and all, but you have to know that I still fancy the pants off you."

"Wait…what? You do?" Her eyes brightened, and her cheeks turned impossibly rosier.

"Yeah, and I don't think I'll stop fancying you anytime soon…I honestly don't know how you feel. Well, I mean, I know you like me as your friend and all, but—" James' hand went to his hair once more as he stopped outside the sleeping Fat Lady's portrait and turned toward Lily, "I would really love to go to Hogsmeade with you Lily."

Lily's mouth kept opening and closing. This was worse than the three-way staring contest between him, Dumbledore, and that Phoenix. He wasn't even sure if his heart was still beating at this point. Maybe Hogwarts wasn't helping him after all. Maybe Dumbledore is as mad as he seems. After what felt like an eternity, James broke the silence in desperation, "Look, Lily—"

"No, wait! I have something to say. I just need to gather my thoughts. So shut up for a minute Potter," demanded Lily.

"Uhhh…right. Okay," nodded James.

Lily was just simply looking at him now, and despite her rosy cheeks, and brightened green eyes, she seemed expressionless, like Dumbledore was. Another eternity later, she took a deep breath, "James?"

"Yeah?" cautioned James.

"Why did you not ask me out before if you still fancied me?" asked Lily in an eerily calm voice.

"Honestly, I don't know. Well, I mean, I'm still kind of recovering from the whole 'giant squid' thing…" finished James with a chuckle. Lily hit James on the arm in response, "Ow!"

"This is not funny Potter!" yelled Lily.

"You two! It is past midnight! Head students or not! You shouldn't—"

"Fawkes," said James. The portrait swung open and James and Lily stepped inside the empty common room.

"Lily, look. I've been wanting to ask you out again since the summer, but I've honestly just been too scared, until now I guess, and I also thought that if you liked me back, you would've asked me out by now."

"Well, I thought you didn't like me that way anymore!" exclaimed Lily.

"What!?" James' eyes widened. "You fancy me back?"

"Yes! Since, like, halfway through sixth year you fool!"

"Why didn't you ask me out then!?" marvelled James wide-eyed.

"Like I said! I didn't think you still fancied me anymore!"

"What gave you that ridiculous idea!?"

"I don't know! I just thought, well…the ball was your court!"

"What bloody ball Evans!?"

"Ugh…James!" huffed Lily as she rolled her eyes, dropped her bag, stood on her tip-toes, took his face in her hands, and brought her lips to his.

James just stood there for a second, before he realized what was happening and began to move his lips in time with hers, and his arms immediately went around her waist to hug her close against him. He was in absolute heaven. He couldn't fucking believe. He was actually kissing Lily bloody Evans in the fucking Gryffindor Common Room. He was thanking every God and deity out there.

Lily finally released from him to catch her breath, and softly whispered against his mouth, "I would love to go to Hogsmeade with you by the way."

"Good," he replied, affectionately rubbing his nose against hers before he continued to passionately kiss her.

After a few solid minutes of snogging, James and Lily parted ways to head up to their respective dorms with grins on their faces, racing hearts and a flush in their cheeks. James even stopped halfway on the staircase to catch his bearings. He didn't want to walk into his dorm looking like a right sod. Then he remembered he owed someone—or something—a thank you.

He gently placed his hand against the stone wall, and said, "Thank you Hogwarts. As a gift, I promise to learn every word to the school song, and to never, uhh personally that is, put off a dung bomb in your halls ever again, and—"

"Uhhh…James?"

James looked up, and to his absolute horror, Sirius, Remus and Peter all stood there on there at the top of the staircase outside their dorm on the verge of laughing their asses off.

"What the fuck are you doing mate?" laughed Sirius.

"Yeah, who are you talking to Prongs?" snickered Peter.

"I'll have you know, that I have a date with Evans and I was just thanking the place that helped me get it."

That shut them up for a second. Sirius, Remus and Peter had abruptly stopped laughing, and each of them had dumbstruck looks plastered on their faces. Before Sirius utter with a grin, "well, it's about bloody time. What'd you do to finally seal the deal though?"

"I asked for help."


End file.
